Rea lays down marker at Misano

Jonathan Rea has demonstrated rapid free practice pace in the final session to send out a warning to his World Superbike rivals at Misano.

The double winner from Laguna Seca led the entire 20-minute FP4 session with a number of laps all in the 1m 34s bracket before notching up a best effort of 1m 34.445s to pull clear of the chasing pack.

Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Chaz Davies, who finished second to Rea in both races at Laguna Seca two weeks ago, became the Kawasaki rider’s nearest challenger but 0.373s off his outright pace. Tom Sykes moved up to third but almost half a second behind Rea.

Lorenzo Savadori continued his promising pace at his home round for Milwaukee Aprilia by ending FP4 in fourth, two-tenths of a second ahead of leading Pata Yamaha rider Alex Lowes, with Loris Baz also maintaining his place in the top six for Althea BMW.

Xavi Fores also impressed on the Barni Ducati in seventh ahead of Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha), who will need to progress through Superpole 1 after missing out on the top ten during yesterday’s practice sessions.

Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda) completed the top ten in the session while factory Ducati’s Marco Melandri failed to head out for the entire session.